Friendly Neighbourhood Garage - World of Service (Sector 63, Noida)

This is a discussion on Friendly Neighbourhood Garage - World of Service (Sector 63, Noida) within Delhi NCR, part of the Team-BHP Directory category; My car had to make visits to WoS again. First, the oil pressure warning would go on at idling on ...

My car had to make visits to WoS again. First, the oil pressure warning would go on at idling on start and then at idling even after warming up. The oil pump had finally given up at 1,75,000 km (ideally, it should have been replaced at the time of engine overhaul at 1,47,000 km). This was diagnosed and disposed off.

On a drive to Jaipur the suspension stated making squeaking noise upon the car picking up speed. This problem had to go through two rounds of diagnosis, once the shocker mount was replaced and later the lower arm was replaced.

On the whole, my experience with WoS has been satisfactory. I have already mentioned the areas where they needed to improve: diagnosis and customer management. However, I find both these aspects improving on every visit.

In short, I can recommend this workshop to anyone, based on my experience.

At the outset, i have to say that these guys have been improving with diagnostics and customer care but at same time please don't expecting road side FNG rates. The set up in professional- as good as any A.S.S.- if not better.

Last year while my Laura was on lowering springs with the B6, there was a constant wobble that developed. i thought it was wheel balancing issue, but boy was i wrong about it! Thanks to the presence for lifts, we put the car and checked the complete underbody after removing the tires. Thats when Anupam and his team realised that there is a small breakage in the right inner CV joint. the part was duly ordered and fixed within 3 days and the car came back shining (like always- the quality of wash is top notch). 3 track days and 2 outstation trips later, i am confirm that the car is running perfect and there are zilch issues. Then when i had gone to get brake fluid replaced, we found that that there is a play in the link and steering rod(s) and again Anupam was quick to fix it- timely and at a reasonable price. And i can't even begin to thank Anupam for the number of times i have had my springs changed at his place- he always welcomed me with a smile. Makes you feel good.

Recommended WoS to a few friends and now all of them have their cars going to WoS for regular maintenance and so far i have not heard anything bad from them. I still stand by my recommendation. As long as you keep your expectations real and show a bit of patience, you should not come back disappointed. Honestly- i haven't so far!

Update: My friend got a call from Anupam informing that the Turbo would also need replacement. Also, the Clutch is reaching the end of its life. So, 2 more thing adding to the cost

Compression in an engine can be easily checked without opening the engine. I am sure of this in case of a petrol, you pull out the spark plug on each cylinder one by one and attach a tool that measures the pressure in the cylinder in place of the spark plugs. How this will be done on a diesel engine, im not sure, but i think there will be some method to do without actually removing everything. I suggest you do a bit of google search on measuring compression on diesel engines and you'll get good results.

Secondly, a failing turbo, might be a reason for the delayed start,but not a car that has done just 45k KMs. Also, it would also give power-loss when the turbo actually kicks in. Since you have not mentioned anything that hints towards any problem after the car starts, i think its safe to say that your turbo is not bad.

Thirdly, i have noticed this tendency where WOS pushes for unnecessary repairs. On my last visit, i was there for a simple oil change that any local guy would do for 100Rs(max) where Anupam and his advisors kept saying labor charges would be 1k. Their reason was that they will do proper checking that everything is alright.

If i were in his shoes, i would say no to the clutch thing, no to the turbo thing, and ask him to replace the glow plug. And while at it, clean/replace the diesel filter.

Compression in an engine can be easily checked without opening the engine. I am sure of this in case of a petrol, you pull out the spark plug on each cylinder one by one and attach a tool that measures the pressure in the cylinder in place of the spark plugs. How this will be done on a diesel engine, im not sure, but i think there will be some method to do without actually removing everything. I suggest you do a bit of google search on measuring compression on diesel engines and you'll get good results.

Secondly, a failing turbo, might be a reason for the delayed start,but not a car that has done just 45k KMs. Also, it would also give power-loss when the turbo actually kicks in. Since you have not mentioned anything that hints towards any problem after the car starts, i think its safe to say that your turbo is not bad.

Thirdly, i have noticed this tendency where WOS pushes for unnecessary repairs. On my last visit, i was there for a simple oil change that any local guy would do for 100Rs(max) where Anupam and his advisors kept saying labor charges would be 1k. Their reason was that they will do proper checking that everything is alright.

If i were in his shoes, i would say no to the clutch thing, no to the turbo thing, and ask him to replace the glow plug. And while at it, clean/replace the diesel filter.

Thanks @smarth.katyal. But by the time Anupam mentioned about the clutch and turbo issues, they had already opened the engine.

My friend got an update from Anupam today that they completed the work and have started the engine. They will monitor it for 1 day and if everything is okay, then we will get delivery on Tuesday.

Will update about how things are, and what the final bill is, post taking delivery.

World of service came to my rescue when I wad in urgent need. Just cant imagine what my plight would have been if not for quality work of WoS.

I happened to zero in on a used Cruze from Delhi. Being from bangalore, it was always a gamble. I got enough pics and information from the seller and I finalized the deal. Still, it needed a person to see the car before purchase. I checked around a few friends in Delhi if they can evaluate the car once. Most were either busy or Noida was too far for the. By chance a friend pointed out at this World of Service. It so happened that this place was not too far for seller and he agreed to take the car and get it inspected in mutual interest. He visited one day and a detailed check was done and I got an all Ok from WoS. The car was as claimed, simply put.

We made our travel plans. Me and 2 friends made it to Delhi by air in no time and took a cab direct to World of Service. After collecting the car(purchase was already done few days back and WoS had taken delivery on my behalf). We drove around few kms and suddenly noticed that AC cooling was poor and then noticed engine temp to be high. It was reaching the 70% mark. My being used to classics like Padminis and 118NEs automatically noticed it very soon. We were to actually start back to Bangalore very moment as was our plan. We were a bit worried. We called WoS and they said, it was tested for quite a few kms and they had not noticed such issues. They asked to get it back. We went and collectively did some t/s and quickly i found that the electric fans were not working at all. All hands of WoS was on my car. My car was priority #1 as each one understood the need of us driving to bangalore.

The chief mechanic Virender found that the sockets for both fans were burnt. The resistor side female socket too was out of shape. He called their parts specialist Vikram who was out to get parts for some other car to get these sockets including one for resistor nd whatsapped him also, such a boon.

Virender and other mechanics started to remove the fan unit. It was little complex and time consuming as they had to remove a lot of small things and also the bumper. Since the bumper was in bad shape due to earlier repairs, the task became more complex. After a few hour, they were successful. We found that the resistor side socket is built on to the resistor and resistor is directly connected to fan. So to replace, it means fan including resistor needes to be changed. They strongly did not believe in jugaad way of fixing and insisted do it the clean and right way. It was evening and they requested us to postpone our travel to next day. Idea was Vikram, the specialist would source the fan unit the next day and get it by noon. We halted at a nearby hotel and returned to WoS next day past noon. As promised , Vikram arrived with the part. In no time it was all assembled back and tested and fitted. All seemed fine. When we went a test drive, after 5-6kms we got a burnt smell and boom, both fans not working. Both fans were jammed. It was 4pm by that time. Virender was very upset that it delayed our drive to Blr. Just like how a T20 chase is done, Virender was super quick and removed the fan unit again. Found that the fans were fouling with the shroud. Once again all hands on the fan unit and they put couple of washers for fan unit so it can be a few mm back of the shroud not to foul. Once again, too quickly they fitted back . We were confident it would work. We left engine idle for long time and we prepared car for journey to Blr. We settled the bill and thanked everyone for the super human efforts and cautiously drove back monitoring the temperature. Everything was perfect and continues to be.

If not for WoS, we may have had a horrendous experience. We may have turned in the car to packers and movers and returned by air. Once again, super thanks to WoS.

Some pics taken at World of Service

Last edited by ampere : 25th September 2016 at 19:48.
Reason: Back to back posts merged

Its been a month now since my cars came from World of Service. So I thought of driving them before updating my experience with my cars and WOS as well.

FIAT Linea MJD 2009 : Gave car to WOS for complete AC overhaul and EGR work. The AC system had gone kaput,and car's pick up was low.
Got the AC Installed - completely new system, dashboard of the car was opened and cooling coil was also replaced. In addition, they also rectified the the aftermarket speaker wiring which was creating a problem & I am really happy with that result.

Overall : Now the ac is quite effective. With the EGR cleaned up, the pick up has improved & as a result my 7 year old Linea feels like a new car.

HYUNDAI Getz Diesel 2008: I own a very uncommon car. The reason I bought this 8 years back as I was stunned by the agility & pick up that the 1.5 L 108 BHP diesel engine produces. Unfortunately, over the years, the zing had gone missing. In addition, it developed a heating issue and I got that fix in a garage in Gurgaon in August '16. But the issue resurfaced in less than a month and that resulted in making car difficult to run on road.

Gave the car to WOS and they rectified the water pump, replaced the hose, cleaned the radiator. In addition, I asked for a thorough checkup of the car as it has clocked 1.20 L kms till date. The checkup revealed problems in suspension, fan belt & few other parts. They fixed the suspension, replaced the fan belt and tensioner.

I then decided to get the EGR cleanup package of WOS as I had experienced the impact on my Linea. Once done, the car feels as if it has a new heart transplant, the 'stonking' effect is back.

WOS really rocks, full mark to them.

Another important aspect of WOS service is that they work 24 * 7. Therefore for people with one car, it's a bonus as they can get their car serviced in night - but with prior appointment.

Will update about how things are, and what the final bill is, post taking delivery.

Update post 2 weeks of taking delivery:
My friend has been using the car since past 2 weeks and he has requested me to share the following feedback for the work done by WoS

Quote:

·Quick diagnosis by Anupam (WoS)
·Explained the issue, and various possible reasons
·Gave the estimate, which was respected by the final bill. Even though some additional parts were replaced like clutch plate / Turbo
·Delivery was on the date as mentioned by WoS
·Shared car snaps while service work in progress
·On the delivery day, Car was ready and bill was already generated
·Showed the old parts which were replaced
·Anupam accompanied for the test ride.

Quite a delayed review but worthwhile to mention. This has reference to my post which was connected to filling of mud & water alongwith fuel in my car. Link

Following parts were cleaned/changed to restore the damage done by water & mud.

Fuel Tank

Fuel Line

Fuel Pump

Injectors

Diesel Filter

Oil Filters

Engine oil

Net-net ended up getting full service done. All work was done properly by the team as always to my utmost satisfaction. Worth mentioning that this work was done at blitzkrieg speed due to the emergent nature squeezing time from the already overbooked workshop schedule.

Thanks to WoS, the car continues to do Delhi-Gurgaon everyday without any hitch!

Disclaimer: This is my personal experience and may not reflect the actual capabilities or service levels of WOS, which may be better or worse based on individual experiences.

Let me share my experience about World of service too. I had visited them couple of times in last 1 year for service and some repair work. Last year after Tuli Fiat closed down I was looking for another place for service and repairs for my Punto and came to know about this workshop on T-BHP and MFW. Hence called them to check about my Punto servicing and while talking came to know that the owner is an old acquaintance and I knew about him since PUG days and attended couple of FIAT meets organized by him in past. So no doubt left and went their next day to give my Punto for servicing.

Apart from major service of 60k I also took the EGR package. Most of the issues were taken care of during service and received the vehicle after a day. Some of the items they use are not exactly OEM items, such as Engine Oil, Brake pads, Wiper etc. The owner told they are using their own items but those are actually better than OEM parts, and I trusted him.

The prices for parts and labor were approx. same as being charged by ASC, except for 2 items which I noticed later, Air Filter, which was charged at Rs 422 and front wiper set, which was charged at Rs 750. The Air Filter cost was almost double and Wiper set cost was half than OEM prices.

Next I went to WOS when my AC blower was not working, went there and the mechanic checked and told the blower resistor is conked off. As they didn’t have replacement part available at that time, asked me to check in the evening or next day. I called WOS in evening and was told that resistor is now available, so went immediately as it is near to my office and got the resistor fixed. The cost of resistor was at MRP and Rs 300 were charged for fixing it.

The issues I encountered:

• WOS doesn’t give proper tax paid bills, for me this is a major flaw when I am not exactly paying less than what I pay at ASC for work. I requested multiple times for the original bills, but never received. I need to submit bills for tax benefits and ended up losing approx. Rs 8k, which I would have saved in tax payment. So eventually I ended up paying Rs 33k (Rs 25k bill + 8k tax saving lost) for the work at WOS.

• Only cash payment, even for large amounts. My bill was of more than Rs 25k, which I had to settle is cash. Whereas at ASC I can easily pay by card and doesn’t require any cash. With virtually no benefit of cost I don’t see any need to pay in cash too, especially when the amount is anything upwards of 5k.

• I noticed that the non-oem brake pads started giving squeaking sounds as soon as I came out of WOS. I told this to WOS owner and he told as the brake pads are new it is giving this sound and will soon get settled, and I believed him. But the brake pads continue to give squeaking noise even after 6 months and had to get those and caliper replaced at Kashyap Motors.

• The AC blower resistor, which WOS replaced, gave up in less than 2 months. This time I decided to check it myself as taking it to anywhere else needed time, which I was not having at that time. When I checked, I found out that not just the resistor, but its connector plug and wiring is also burnt. I pulled out the resistor and saw its manufacturing date was of 2008 as well as it was not looking like a part installed just 2 months ago. Do remember this part is inside dashboard below the glove box, so don’t get much of dust or anything else. Then I felt the part installed was not new, but was an old part, which may have been saved from some other car and I was charged full MRP of new part. I ordered another resistor from 99rpm and it was 2016 manufactured and after comparing both, I was absolutely sure that the part installed at WOS was old and not new. I didn’t expect this from WOS.

• The half priced wiper didn’t last even 6 months and cracked when cleaning side rubber came of the wiper. The original OEM wiper were good for more than 3 yrs. So price is half and life is not even 20% of the wipers installed by WOS. Again ordered wipers from 99rpm and replaced myself.

• Personally I am not really sure if the EGR clearing was really required and now feel it is little hyped activity as initially for a week felt a little (5-10%) light in acceleration but after that it was as it was before EGR cleaning.

So in the end the million-dollar question, Will I go to WOS again?

May or may not be, not sure at this moment but highly suspect that in immediate future. Despite being only one FIAT ASC (Kashyap Motors) in Delhi now, I will prefer to go there and take help from trusted O.P Sharma Ji, rather than going to WOS, where I effectively ended up paying extra price compared to ASC, and where old or inferior parts are installed and no tax paid bills or card payment options are provided.

I pulled out the resistor and saw its manufacturing date was of 2008 as well as it was not looking like a part installed just 2 months ago. Do remember this part is inside dashboard below the glove box, so don’t get much of dust or anything else. Then I felt the part installed was not new, but was an old part, which may have been saved from some other car and I was charged full MRP of new part. I ordered another resistor from 99rpm and it was 2016 manufactured and after comparing both, I was absolutely sure that the part installed at WOS was old and not new. I didn’t expect this from WOS.

Out of all your issues, I think this one is the most serious and is a clear intent on cheating the customer. Why don't you take it up with them? More so since you say the owner is known to you and a Fiat fan. It might be possible that a worker there is making side money without the knowledge of the owner and customer. I feel WOS will not easily stoop to such low levels as word of mouth sort of publicity is what brings customers to it. And such posts will only do serious damage to their business.

It might be possible that a worker there is making side money without the knowledge of the owner and customer.

Although would like to think what you are saying might be true, but unfortunately the experience was different. Because when I went in the afternoon, there after checking, SA told AC Blower Resistor is one of those parts which rarely fails (He told mine was only the second instance he was seeing), hence the part is not in stock and needs to be ordered. He told the part may come by late evening and suggested to come next day for getting it fixed. But when I called owner after couple of hours to check with him, if it is possible to arrange the part that day itself for replacement, he told the part is available in stock. I went again and got the replacement installed, and during this replacement owner was there and I paid the bill in front of him. So in this situation it doesn't look like SA/technician were doing anything on their own.

Disclaimer: This is my personal experience and may not reflect the actual capabilities or service levels of WOS, which may be better or worse based on individual experiences.

Even i feel there labor prices have skyrocketed compared to the time when they came into existence. I understand inflation but pricing almost similar or more to Fiat service pricing is hard to digest. Most people will be ok to spend at par labor rates for extensive expertise jobs involving engine, clutch etc. but not for jobs like shocker, link rods, mounts which are mostly plug and play.

As far as workmanship in concerned my overall experience with most of the jobs has been positive apart from one link road fiasco. When a counterfeit link rod(although priced marginally lesser than oem) was put in in my car by mechanics. It went kaput within a week. When i raised the issue that it should have been informed and decision should have been mine regarding which one to put Anupam obliged and replaced it free of cost. But the new rod is also making noise within 8k kms. I feel this is quite early to go bad again.

Last edited by Eddy : 4th November 2016 at 12:34.
Reason: Quoting a long post hampers readability for our small screen users

Recently had a very good experience with WoS. My Manza didn't start one day, couple of months ago and due to scarcity of time I couldn't get it repaired. About a fortnight ago, called Anupam and he got it picked from my home.

There was a lot wrong with the car and WoS did a thorough and professional job. Anupam kept me in touch with whatever was being done and the end result was nothing short of wow.